


Loud hour

by alittledeathlyNightowl



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcohol, College, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Music, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:41:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26996851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittledeathlyNightowl/pseuds/alittledeathlyNightowl
Summary: Rochelle, a young college freshman, who has just moved into her new dormitory at Foresthill College. Little did she know, she had just moved into the noisiest, wildest building on campus, with parties constantly being thrown, work being turned in constantly, and the coolest people she has ever met- people way too cool for her. While being dragged to bars, parties, clubs and still trying not to fail her classes, she will eventually realize that you don't have to stay inside watching quality television to have a decent weekend.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 1





	1. Energy Drinks for the College Girl's Soul

"Dammit...ow, why did I bring this all in one trip..." 

Rochelle was dragging two whole suitcases of her belongings down the long dormitory hallway. Her arms hurt, her legs hurt, and she was only halfway there.  
This seemed to be an ordinary dormitory, besides it being so huge. But, no. It was not. Foresthill was advertised to be prestigious, sophisticated and serious. But that is because the pamphlets are outdated, and why would they advertise it as a college where students have basically taken over the entire place? It wouldn't make sense.  
The reason students have taken over, was most likely because the parents of troubled students would send them to Foresthill, and when enough troubled students get together, hell breaks loose. And this dormitory, Ferrell House, was where the most hell broke loose.  
Rochelle had finally made it to her dorm. Room 46, where she lived alone. Which was something she was fine with. She liked being alone. But she did not make it to her dorm fast enough...

The air grew strangely cold, a result of the scheduled heaters being shut off for the night, at exactly, 10 pm. But what she did not know about 10 pm, is that it was also Foresthill's designated... 

Loud Hour.

Music from multiple rooms started playing all at once, startling her to death. Bedroom doors fly open, people are yelling at each other to "Get in here!" and "I've got your favourite song playing, dude!" and even "Jared, shut the hell up, nobody wants to watch 'You've Got Mail' with you!"

It was indeed, wild.

She grabbed her key card out of her pocket and got inside her room as quickly as she possibly could. She ran in, slammed the door shut, muffing all the noise on the other side. She then turned around to look at where she'd be living for the next few years. The room was a decent size, but very dull. She knew she would have to make it nicer later. She set down her suitcases next to a large pile of all her other things that she had brought in the day before, to make it easier today. It was time to unpack.

After about 15 minutes of pure work, Rochelle began to feel uneasy. Like she was being watched. Her door was locked, nobody could have gotten in, unless... 

Cautiously, she turned around to see someone sitting on her windowsill, with one leg on it, one leg hanging outside the window. Someone she did not recognize.  
"Umm...can I help you?" She asked the stranger, sounding both confused and nervous at the same time.

"What's up?"  
Their voice was very monotone, like the kind of person who had it all together, the kind of person who did whatever they wanted, like if that thing was sneaking into bedrooms through people's windows. They had long, pale pink hair that faded into grey. They had soft, smokey eye makeup and was wearing a grey turtleneck with a white skirt and grey knee socks. They reminded Rochelle of that calm collected character from an anime.

"I- uh, nothing much, just unpacking. Uh, sorry, did I leave my window open?"  
The mysterious stranger shook their head.  
"No, I opened it."

Rochelle was struck dumb. Who was this person? Why were they here? Did they want anything? Were they a ghost from the early 2010s????  
"Uh...d-do you wanna help me unpack?" She asked them, still puzzled.  
They hopped down from the windowsill, landing on the soft brown carpet with a small thud.  
"Sure, I have nothing else to do tonight...besides study...nevermind, school hasn't started yet. I don't need to study." They chuckled quietly to themselves.

Rochelle gestured for them to come over to her and she began opening up boxes and telling them what was in them and where their contents should go.

"And that's all of them. You can get started, I'll get you a drink." She said with a sweet smile after explaining everything. The stranger smiled back.  
She bent over to grab her new mini fridge out of one of the boxes, spilling packing peanuts everywhere as she lifted it out. She set it down, before then going over to a cooler and removing a can of Monster Energy and handing it to them.  
They took it with a smile, opening it and taking a sip.

"This is really good." They said with a small smile.  
"I know right? I drink them all the time! They give me such a rush!" Rochelle responded, taking a small chug of her own can, which she had just got out of the cooler.  
"Like, I know I should drink coffee because it's probably less sugary, but I lowkey have an addiction so I don't know what to tell you, uh..." Rochelle stopped short.  
"What is your name?"  
They turned around while they were plugging in Rochelle's "Put your drinks up!" neon sign, which they had just attached to the wall.

"Bonsai."

"Bonsai? Like the tree? That's so neat!"

"Yeah, that's why I picked it. I have like, 5 of em in my room. You a plant mom too?"  
Rochelle's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I have so many plants! They're right- oh, you, already put them on the shelf, haha..."  
She rubbed her forehead in embarrassment. Bonsai took out their phone and quickly checked it.  
"Yeah, you're welcome, anyways I gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow, um.."  
"Rochelle."  
"Cool. See ya, Rochelle,"  
Bonsai walked out the door, but as they did they leaned back to check Rochelle's door number, before taking out a black tattoo pen and writing a small '46' on their arm.  
The door shut loudly as they pulled it shut.

Rochelle stared at it for a few seconds before dropping to her knees, still staring at the door. Who was this mysterious stranger? Were they friends now? Why were they on her windowsill? How did they unpack so much of her stuff so quickly?  
She glanced up at a small canvas hanging on the wall. It was an art canvas she had ordered online that read the words, "Sweater Weather". She didn't plan to put it there, she was going to put it on a different wall, but she decided to leave it, for whatever reason.

Rochelle looked back down at the carpet, her mind calm yet racing, as muffled indie rock played from outside her dorm room. She smiled softly to herself.

Loud Hour was a usual thing in Ferrell house, hell, it was usual for all of Foresthill, but she knew that eventually, she would enjoy it.


	2. Feels like Sweater Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rochelle is getting invited to meet Bonsai's friends, which she agrees to, not thinking much of it. But instead, she meets her second, and second closest friend she's going to make here.

Rochelle was finally done unpacking, and boy, it had taken her a long time. She had started at 9 am, right after she woke up, and it was now...

"8 pm!?? Oh my god...well, at least I'm done. Haha..." She laughed awkwardly to herself. She hadn't spoken to anyone since last night, and she was beginning to feel lonely again. But luckily, being the introverted person she was, she wouldn't feel lonely for long.  
She kicked some boxes filled with packing peanuts against the wall, pulled her phone out of her pocket and flopped stomach-first onto her cow-patterned bedsheets, to mindlessly scroll through twitter. She did this a lot, it didn't take much to entertain her. 

The air was calm. She had been on the internet for about half an hour, before a very familiar voice was heard outside the window.

"Hey."  
She looked up, startled, to see Bonsai's face poking in through her window, their arms pushing down on the windowsill as if they were trying to hold themselves up.

"Hey, what's up?"  
"Just found out that there's a retractable ladder attached to your window for whatever reason. Wish I had known that sooner, yesterday I had to shimmy up your drain pipe." Bonsai replied, still in that calm, monotone voice Rochelle admired so much.

"So, me and the guys are gonna go hang out at Void's place for Loud Hour, well Veronica, but we call her void because she's obsessed with astrology...it doesn't make sense but you'd get it if you met her. Anyways wanna come?" They asked.

Rochelle looked up.  
"Wait really? We like just met though."  
Bonsai rolled their eyes. "So? It doesn't matter, you'd probably like them. I mean, I don't know, I haven't met a third of them, but I think they're cool. If they aren't we won't invite them over again."

She paused. "Yeah, sure! Okay! I'll come. Do they know I'm going to be there? I don't wanna intrude." 

They inhaled deeply, shaking their head. "I said I was inviting a friend, look just- It doesn't matter, you are allowed to be there, just, c'mon, jeez." Rochelle smiled and hopped off her bed as Bonsai got down from the window sill and they both headed over to the door. Rochelle closing it behind her, she looked both ways down the hall before turning to Bonsai. 

"So uh, where does your friend, uh, Void live?" She asked awkwardly. Bonsai pointed to the room at the very end of the hall, the door right next to the window overlooking the rest of the campus. "That one. Hurry up though, loud hour starts in like, 2 minutes." 

She thought back and remembered the loud music playing from yesterday when she was just trying to get inside her dorm. She did not want to relive that. 

The two made their way down the hall before an alarm started going off on Bonsai's phone. "Oh damn, sorry, loud hour starts now." They said before laughing quietly. The music had started. The same noisy, heavy metal blared from, multiple dorms, somehow. She was still unsure why it sounded like multiple people were listening to the same music. At least it sounded the same. So much air guitar... 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Bonsai loudly knocking on Void's door over all the noise. "Hey! I'm here with a friend assholes, someone let us in!" They yelled, trying to be heard. 

They were greeted by a young man with dark hair hanging in his eyes. He had one ear pierced and was wearing a rolling stones T-shirt. He looked sleep-deprived. "Oh, hey Bonsai. You Rochelle? Eh whatever, whoever you are come on in." He muttered. 

As they walked in the heavy metal got much louder, which meant that this was the room where it was coming from. There was tarot themed tapestries covering the walls, string lights strung across the ceiling, fake, plastic vines draped over lots of album cover prints and lots of records all along a shelf. It was so cool, yet kind of cozy. "Anyway, I'm Teddy, make yourself at home." He said, tiredly putting a hand on Rochelle's shoulder in an attempt to be comforting and friendly, but he just seemed so exhausted that she just felt bad for him. He trudged away and flopped down in an armchair and stared off into space, unblinking, for so long that she just concluded that he must be sleeping with his eyes open. 

Rochelle scanned the area. There were multiple other people in that room, some with drinks, some talking to each other. Her eyes landed on a girl, who turned out to be the owner of the apartment, Void. 

She had black hair, with the inside dyed white. She wore so many rings, a choker with a chain and lock on it, an oversized 'The Neighbourhood' T-shirt tucked into some black shorts with white laces up the sides, a checkerboard belt with a huge buckle, and some platform boots. Her eyeliner was dramatic, she had yellow coloured contacts in, and golden sparkled all over her cheeks like freckles. She was beautiful. She was looking right at her. She was coming over. 

"Hey, freckles, what 'cha up to?" She asked her, taking a sip of her drink. Rochelle was a bit caught off guard. She thought that Void would sound much more soft-spoken. What she did not expect was for her voice to be very deep with a slight New Jersey accent. It was charming. 

"Oh, nothing much. I just came here because Bonsai brought me along. Thought it'd be a fun night." She gestured over to Bonsai, who was seemingly flirting with Teddy, who was now much more awake than before. Her eyes shifted to the cup of coffee in his hand. Ah, that's why. 

"If you're wondering, Teddy is Bonsai's boyfriend. I can assure you, they are not a whore." Void said before giggling at her own joke. Rochelle didn't think of Bonsai as a whore, but it was good to be assured. 

"This is your dorm, right? It's really cool. You like The Neighborhood?" She asked her gesturing to her shirt and the 'Wiped Out!' canvas on her wall. 

"Yeah, I love their music so much. Sometimes it's calm, sometimes it's less calm, I dunno, it's neat. Do you?" "Yup, I binge-listen to their music while studying sometimes." She replied. Void paused before looking up at Rochelle and raising an eyebrow. 

"Sweater Weather?" 

"Damn right." 

"Nice." The two high-fived and chuckled to themselves. 

Rochelle smiled to herself. She had already made 2 friends and she had only been here for 2 days. Maybe she should stop stressing over how bad this year could be if she had such awesome people to hang out with. But it's not like she could relax now. The night was just getting started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI AGAIN!!!! Thanks for reading. Isn't Void AWESOME??? I tried making her sound like the most awesome person ever, I hope it worked.


	3. Nobody does it Like We Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Void and Rochelle get to know each other better after eating lots of fried chicken in Robert's Bar with Bonsai and their boyfriend, Teddy.

"Alright, we're planning to go out the window and go to Robert's Pub in a few minutes, if you wanna chicken, the door is there, and if you want some chicken, then come with us because it's fried and greasy and tastes like heaven," Teddy announced, trying to be funny, but clearly too tired to laugh at his own joke. He didn't have to though, because people still laughed anyway.

"What's Robert's Pub?" Rochelle whispered into Void's ear.

"It's a pub known for mozzarella sticks and fried chicken." She replied. "Pretty much a standard food join. It's just outside. You coming?"  
"Yeah, sounds like fun, I'm starving too, all I drank today was-"

"Monster? Yeah, I know about that, you can't hide anything from me." She laughed, accidentally sloshing her drink, spilling some of it on the floor.

"Awh f**k."

"Ladies? Homeowner? Caffeine Addict? You coming?" Teddy asked, distracting the two.

"Yup, we're coming. Chill out, Teddybear." Void teased, him raising his eyebrow at her.

"Teddybear? Oh, That's so cute, I should start calling you that." Bonsai said loudly from across the room. He glared at Void. "Thanks." He said sarcastically. "Oh c'mon, you love when they call you pet names."  
His cheeks flushed a little before turning away and hoisting himself onto the windowsill. The two girls followed.

There was a similar ladder to the one attached to Rochelle's window that they were using to get down. They all dropped onto the roof of a maintenance shed and next to the shed was Robert's Pub. The side of the building was covered with graffiti, and the nice stuff too, there were 3 flickering string lights above the pavement, which were there because the string of lights was too long, so they had to attach them around the corner of the wall. They obviously hung out here a lot.

An hour had already passed, the gang sitting around a booth eating, well, Mozza sticks and fried chicken. 

"God damn, thanks for inviting me, I swear, I have never had such good food before," Rochelle exclaimed quickly before taking another bite of her chicken.

"Say cheese, freckles." Void said wrapping her arm around Rochelle's shoulders with her phone out.  
"No, don't say cheese, stick your tongue out or something, I don't care." She snapped the picture and put her phone back, before taking a chug of her root beer.

While Teddy and Bonsai were at the counter paying, Rochelle and Void had left and snuck back into her apartment, and were now chatting on her bed.  
"So these are all your records?" Rochelle asked her, looking all over her room in awe.

"Yup, all mine. Had to pay a lot for em too. It's a good investment, though, I play all of em on my record player. I even have a mixtape made on one." She answered, gesturing to the one vinyl leaning against the shelf, in a black case with white writing on it reading 'Void's Cool Sh*t."

"Wow, nice. What's on it?  
"Uhh, some The Neighbourhood, Arctic Monkeys, Girl in Red...some other random songs I like that I forgot who sings them."  
"Ahh, very nice. I listen to like, all of those."  
"For real?"  
"Yup. I love that kinda stuff. Indie music is cool."

Void smiled. "True dat. What's your zodiac sign?"  
Rochelle laughed. "Bonsai did say you liked astrology. I'm a Cancer."  
"Ah, I thought so."  
She laughed again. "What does that mean?"  
"I dunno. I could just feel it. I'm a Gemini."  
"Ah cool. I would say I could feel it but I really don't know." Rochelle laughed again for the third time.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, only for Teddy and Bonsai to return. One of the first things Void noticed was the grey lipstick mark on Teddy's forehead.

"Aww." She said under her breath jokingly. He turned his head to see the grin on her face before his cheeks turning pink and looking away again. 

"So we were thinking of heading out. We've got...plans." Bonsai said with a smile they were obviously trying to hide.  
"Yeah I have to go too, I have to go sleep," Rochelle added, pushing herself off the bed and straightening her shirt.

"Alright, see you guys later, you two have fun, and well, I'm sure freckles is just gonna drink a sh*t ton of Monster so have a good time with that." Void said as she burst out laughing. Bonsai laughed as well and Teddy rubbed the back of his neck looking down, mildly embarrassed. Rochelle's cheeks flushed.

"Bye."  
The three let themselves out, leaving Void alone with her thoughts. She knew she would be bored of this in an hour or so. In the lonely silence of the empty dorm, she could hear the faint bass of a concert just a few blocks away. She wanted to go. She got up and went to get changed. She put her hair up into high pigtails, put on her favourite knee socks with a black sweaterdress, before going to the window to hear the concert better. 

"Nobody does it like you do..."  
Why did she recognize this song?

"I know that you got Daddy Issues.."

It was a The Neighbourhood concert. Now Void really wanted to go. 

And she knew exactly who she was taking.


	4. Kissing to Cut out the Gloom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Void drags Rochelle to a The Neighbourhood concert, only to have such a good night she won't ever want to leave.

It was 12 am at night. Rochelle was sound asleep, with a stuffed bird clutched to her chest. Things were calm. 

"Hey Freckles, you like The Neighbourhood, right?" Came the voice of one can only assume, was Void.

"Wh..what? Void it's early as hell, what do you want?" Her eyes fluttered open, with a look of pure fatigue and disgust on her face.  
"Wait did you say The Neighbourhood? Where? When?"

"Downtown. C'mon, let's go, we'll watch from the roof of Robert's Pub."  
"The Pub is that tall?"  
"Yeah, there's other food-related businesses above it, I think it's all shipping and management, I dunno. Get up, get dressed, just hurry we'll miss the whole thing!"

Rochelle begrudgingly threw off the blankets and ran over to her closet as Void left to go listen to the concert through her window again.  
In a few minutes, Rochelle was in the doorway in a tank top, some fingerless gloves, a black skirt and some thigh-highs.

"Great, c'mon." Void grabbed her wrist, heaved open the window and began climbing out as Rochelle followed. They both dropped onto the roof of the shed and they jumped down onto the pavement.

"How are we even going to get up there? There isn't a ladder- oh."  
She looked over to see Void pointing to a metal ladder attached to the side of the brick wall, stretching all the way up to the roof of the Pub.

"Watch your step."

The two girls climb up the ladder, Rochelle following Void closely as they get to the top. Void dragged her over to the railing, just in time for the song to end.

A new drumbeat starts. A very familiar one.  
"I know which one this is- oh okay." Rochelle stopped short because Void was already screaming the lyrics to, well, Sweater Weather.

"ALL I AM, IS A MAN, I WANT THE WORLD, IN MY HANDS." She enthusiastically yelled.

"I HATE THE BEACH, BUT I STAND, IN CALIFORNIA WITH MY TOES IN THE SAND!" Rochelle joined her, just as intensely.

The rest of the concert felt like a blur, full of off-key singing, (by the girls) distant lights and songs that everyone knew by heart. The two held each other's hand, waving them in the air.  
It was Rochelle's first concert in three years. It was amazing.

And just like that, it was over. The two climbed back up into Void's window, covered in sweat. Void grabbed a tissue and wiped off her face, before grabbing another one and wiping off Rochelle's.

"Thanks."  
"No problem." She replied, patting the pillows on her blanket-covered bench in between her bookshelves. It was like a nook of some sort. There were string lights on the wall behind it, along with fake vines and an assortment of posters. Rochelle sat down in the corner of the bench up against some pillows with strange patterns on them.  
Void grabbed her vinyl mixtape from her shelf, removed it from its case and put it on her record player. Some alternative rock Rochelle didn't recognize began to play and Void turned to her.

"You got any wine? I'd offer you mine but I don't have any."  
Rochelle looked up. "Oh yeah, check my cupboard above the sink. My door's unlocked so could you lock it when you leave?"  
She smiled. "Thanks, and yeah I will."

She left for a minute, then returned with two wine glasses and a wine bottle, which she set on her dresser for refills, which they did end up getting. 

The rest of the night consisted of laughing and lots of conversations on very random and meaningless topics.  
The air smelled of candles that seemed to be some sort of vanilla scent. It was cold, but not too cold. And it was silent. The conversation had ended and caused a comfortable silence.

"Hey, Void?" Rochelle said tiredly. "You know that-"  
"Veronica. You can call me Veronica, Rochelle." She looked into her eyes, causing Rochelle to forget what she was talking about. Veronica put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her in a little bit.

Rochelle put her finger up to her lips. She took a breath before whispering:

"We're sober."

Veronica blinked at her in tired confusion. "What?"

"That isn't wine."

They both turned their heads to see that the wine bottle was green and pink with the words: "To Rochelle" on the front, along with the Monster Energy logo.  
"I had that custom made. This is monster, not wine."

The song that was playing on the record player slowly faded out, and Knee Socks by Arctic Monkeys began to play. They both looked at each other again.  
Rochelle smiled at Veronica. But not a sweet or reassuring smile that says "everything's gonna be okay."

The kind of smile that said, "Things are never going to be okay, but I want that more than anything in the world right now." 

She leaned in, putting her hand on the back of Veronica's neck to keep her from hitting the bookshelf behind her head. She kissed back, holding her other passionately, the two running their hands through each other's hair in a sweet embrace for many minutes.

Rochelle ran her hand up the inside of Veronica's shirt, unbuttoning her bra in between kisses, the other taking the hint to do the same. She then grabbed her shoulders snd turned her around. Veronica backed up against the pillows as Rochelle crawled over to her, kissed her lips again, then began taking off her shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao yeah, you thought, Rochelle is a top lol.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thanks for reading this! (If you do) This is actually an idea I had for a sitcom that of course, I couldn't make because it's not like I'm a writer with a job at NBC lmao. Might not upload much, I just had a burst of inspiration.


End file.
